Hey all, I've asked this question before but I might as well ask it again to get a few more opinions about it. I decided I wanted to satisfy my urge for more DR (Since we're literally half way there for release date of the second game) by reading DR0. I finished the first game already and everything...

Some people say that it should be read after the first game (because the novel came out one year before 2) some say it should be left until after you finish the second game. Not sure what to do at this point and would like some insight. I know I wouldn't wanna spoil myself for the second game. So how should I approach it? Thanks!

It doesn't contain any spoilers as far as I know, but reading it after playing/reading SDR2 will give you a bit more insight into some smaller scenes. You could read it first and reread it after playing SDR2.

Also, have you read the Kirigiri novels and Dangan Ronpa IF? IF can be read here.

A lot of translated media can be found in this Tumblr masterpost. There aren't any SDR2 spoilers in the link titles themselves, but if you want to hold off on the character names, don't scroll past the SDR2 section.

Ryuuki wrote:No doubt about it. It's practically a requirement, even writer (Kodaka) recommends this. If you don't read you don't will absorb the second game completely.

Not exactly. He didn't say you need to read Zero or anything close to that before playing SDR2. Hell, he even said you don't need to play DR1 to fully get SDR2 (which I disagree with) but that's mainly for a marketing purpose. But you really don't need to read Zero to understand the vast majority of SDR2. And it's even arguable that while Zero won't directly spoil SDR2, it can make some of the more shocking twists a little more obvious.

More specifically Major Danganronpa 2 Spoilers, and Danganronpa Zero spoilers

Spoiler:

It makes it kind of obvious who Izuru Kamukura's true identity is. whereas if you were just playing SDR2 first this would come as a huge twist, but a few people I know that read Zero and then played SDR2 called that as early as Chapter 4 I think.

Lago wrote:Not exactly. He didn't say you need to read Zero or anything close to that before playing SDR2. Hell, he even said you don't need to play DR1 to fully get SDR2 (which I disagree with) but that's mainly for a marketing purpose. But you really don't need to read Zero to understand the vast majority of SDR2. And it's even arguable that while Zero won't directly spoil SDR2, it can make some of the more shocking twists a little more obvious.

More specifically Major Danganronpa 2 Spoilers, and Danganronpa Zero spoilers

Spoiler:

It makes it kind of obvious who Izuru Kamukura's true identity is. whereas if you were just playing SDR2 first this would come as a huge twist, but a few people I know that read Zero and then played SDR2 called that as early as Chapter 4 I think.

Even that you don't need read DR/Zero for understand the vast majority of SDR2. It's indeed that if you don't read you will lose a lot of things. That's why I thinks it's extremely necessary read DR/Zero for absorb completely not just SDR2 but the franchise as a whole.

Lago wrote:Not exactly. He didn't say you need to read Zero or anything close to that before playing SDR2. Hell, he even said you don't need to play DR1 to fully get SDR2 (which I disagree with) but that's mainly for a marketing purpose. But you really don't need to read Zero to understand the vast majority of SDR2. And it's even arguable that while Zero won't directly spoil SDR2, it can make some of the more shocking twists a little more obvious.

More specifically Major Danganronpa 2 Spoilers, and Danganronpa Zero spoilers

Spoiler:

It makes it kind of obvious who Izuru Kamukura's true identity is. whereas if you were just playing SDR2 first this would come as a huge twist, but a few people I know that read Zero and then played SDR2 called that as early as Chapter 4 I think.

Even that you don't need read DR/Zero for understand the vast majority of SDR2. It's indeed that if you don't read you will lose a lot of things. That's why I thinks it's extremely necessary read DR/Zero for absorb completely not just SDR2 but the franchise as a whole.

Again, I don't really agree. You can play DR1 and SDR2 and be perfectly fine. Zero adds a lot of background information and answers a lot of questions, but it's really not a necessary read unless you want to know more of the backstory. And even then, you don't need to read it to understand most of SDR2. And the game basically treats you like you haven't read Zero, so it's not like you would even be lost if you never read Zero.

Zero is an interesting read, but you don't need to read it before playing SDR2 at all. It really doesn't even tie into SDR2 all that much outside of a few small things, and it's more about explaining a lot of things that weren't explained in the first game.

Lago wrote:Again, I don't really agree. You can play DR1 and SDR2 and be perfectly fine. Zero adds a lot of background information and answers a lot of questions, but it's really not a necessary read unless you want to know more of the backstory. And even then, you don't need to read it to understand most of SDR2. And the game basically treats you like you haven't read Zero, so it's not like you would even be lost if you never read Zero.

Zero is an interesting read, but you don't need to read it before playing SDR2 at all. It really doesn't even tie into SDR2 all that much outside of a few small things, and it's more about explaining a lot of things that weren't explained in the first game.

I'm little different you see, unlike you just play the game can not be enough, what I really want it's enjoy a true plot. And Danganronpa it's this, a history of turning the head down full of plot twists and unbelievable surprises and I really love this. That's why the explanations about everything making all pieces fit in the unfolding of history it's what makes me really fascinated. But of course this is my personal opinion, if you just want fun playing the game you don't need read if you don't want, but if you want understand the serie as a whole so I recommend read DR/Zero. But this is with you.

But like I said, You really don't need to read Zero before playing SDR2. And I really don't recommend reading Zero before playing SDR2 because it can make one of the better twists in the game seem really obvious.

Lago wrote:But like I said, You really don't need to read Zero before playing SDR2. And I really don't recommend reading Zero before playing SDR2 because it can make one of the better twists in the game seem really obvious.

vague spoilers

Spoiler:

Eh, in this case, I actually think that's a good thing just because it also adds significance to the twist in question. Otherwise, it's kind of... what the fuck is even the point of this revelation, especially after the previous one...